Paul Munyuki Sports Reporter
AN historic Zimbabwe Rugby Union elective annual meeting gets underway at Prince Edward School this morning with two candidates vying for the top job while three men have thrown their names into the hat for the two vice presidency posts. It promises to be an intriguing battle for the leadership of the union with both men who are eyeing the presidency – Aaron Jani and Nyararai Sibanda – having been part of the ZRU system.

Jani could become the first former Sables player to lead the Union in more than 20 years while Sibanda could become the first leader from Bulawayo in the same period.

Aaron Jani – Young Sables chairman and former ZRU vice-president and Sables winger

Having played for the Sables at the turn of the millennium, Jani was in 2006 appointed as the Young Sables chairman where his leadership led to the Zimbabwe Under-20 side winning the Junior Africa Cup three times in a row and taking part in the World Rugby Under-20 Trophy five times.

He has managed to lead the junior franchise to great heights, turning the Young Sables from an ordinary ZRU team to the best-funded team in Zimbabwean rugby including hosting the Junior Africa Cup on several occasions, subsequently bringing the World Rugby Under-20 Trophy to Zimbabwe.

“I began my journey with the Under-20 Rugby until to date. Initially it was very hard as committee members had to dig into their pockets to finance rugby, as well as spending their valuable free time administering rugby,” he said.

“Our best preparation was 2012 for JWRT in the USA, we travelled to Limpopo where we spent over a week and played three warm-up games before travelling to Castre in France and spent two weeks playing games and getting expert coaching, thanks to the late Jean- Luc Barthes.

“All this we funded ourselves and also paid allowances. When we hosted the Junior Africa Cup, we renovated the Prince Edward School hostels and kitchens, changing curtains, straightening steel beds, repainted the walls and fixed the geysers. It is this track record and the level of skills and organising ability which speaks for itself.

Some of the top players who have graduated from the Under-20 sides that Jani led as chairman include the likes of Tapiwa Tsomondo who is doing wonders in South Africa, Farai Mudariki who is equally amazing in France, Sables backline players Charles Jiji, Hilton Mudariki, Lenience Tambwera, Tafadzwa Chitokwindo, Tichafara Makwanya and a host of other players.

Nyararai Sibanda – ZRU vice president

Nyararai Sibanda was elected ZRU vice-president in 2012, but his biggest let-down is that he is part of the current board led by John Falkenberg – whose term comes to an end today – that allowed the ZRU to be turned into a comical show.

He says he has a seven-point plan that will be key in developing Zimbabwean rugby.

“The following pillars, although not limited to, will form the nucleus of focus areas going forward not in any order of priority as they will form the dashboard, these being; key messages (publicity), growth, commercial, capability development, junior development policy, long-term athlete development and high performance centre.

“I was appointed vice-chair of the African Union Sports Council Under-20 Youth Games in 2014 by the Government of Zimbabwe and served with conviction par-excellence to deliver a memorable Games.

“My contribution to rugby in Zimbabwe can be summed up to that of pioneering, nurturing and developing areas previously disadvantaged.

“We formed Highlanders Rugby Club, which I was the founding Chairman in 1985 to 1991 and grew the club from strength to strength with meagre resources and today they are in top-flight holding their own plying under the name Western Panthers.

“I have served sport in other leadership capacities being the first black captain of Gweru Golf Club.”

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